John Tothill returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with This Must Be Heaven – the third chapter in an increasingly baroque saga of poor health, fabulously bad luck, and flamboyant overcommitment. But if John had his way, it would simply be a light-hearted pre-drinks for like-minded sinners… In fact, fu*k it, he WILL have his way. Join John Tothill for a light-hearted pre-drinks for like-minded sinners.
In late 2023, John took part in a paid clinical trial in which he deliberately contracted malaria to fund his Fringe run. It made the headlines in 2024, when journalists discovered the full scope of what artists are willing to do to take a show to the largest arts festival in the world. Then, during that 2024 run, in a theatrical gesture of one-upmanship, his appendix burst mid-show. Quietly. The culprit? A late-night cheesy chips. Didn’t know junk food could cause your appendix to rupture? Well, it can…
John proceeded to deliver five more performances with, he later discovered, “a completely obliterated” organ. He was then rushed into emergency surgery, where doctors informed him that he’d been just 24 hours away from fatal sepsis. But, inevitably, he came back, resurrected like Lazarus, gloriously performing the last few shows of the run. A true showman until the very end.
Now, with all internal uprisings (for the moment) subdued, he returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with This Must Be Heaven – a show about bodily betrayal, moral misadventure, the 19th-century oyster thief Edward Dando, and the quiet dignity of being fundamentally unsuited to physical life.
John’s style is erudite, effervescent and entirely his own – a mischievous blend of faux-intellectualism, camp and gleeful tangents. He has been described as “foppish, erudite, intellectually self-assured and effervescing like a freshly poured champagne” (The Guardian) and “as intellectually stimulating as he is side-splittingly funny” (EdFestMag). His comedy is whip-smart but never po-faced, often circling big ideas before abandoning them entirely and opting, quite reasonably, for nonsense and small talk. He radiates with pure delight to be alive and on-stage – now more than ever.
In This Must Be Heaven, expect tangents on the Seven Deadly Sins, Ultra-processed foods, Richard Dawkins, the War on Wonder, Luigi Mangione, and the bodily coup d’état staged by John’s own appendix. It’s a show for pleasure-seekers, moral degenerates, and anyone who finds the idea of a very long anecdote more nourishing than a six-minute tight five. It’s 60 minutes. It probably won’t teach you anything. It might just be heaven.
John Tothill is a comedian, writer and actor from Essex who has performed in venues across the UK and the USA, including Chicago’s Second City and New York’s UCB Theatre. He has supported Emma Sidi, Sheeps and Fiona Allen, and in 2025 embarked on his debut UK tour. He recently filmed a his second set for Comedy Central Live.
A former teacher from Southend-on-Sea, John made his Fringe debut in 2023 with The Last Living Libertine – a cult hit that went on to a sold-out Soho Theatre run and earned him a place in the Chortle Best Newcomer nominations the following year. His follow-up, Thank God This Lasts Forever, played to critical acclaim, with The Telegraph calling him “completely in command of his distinctive, mischievous comic voice”. Both Edinburgh shows have ranked in the British Comedy Guide’s Best-Reviewed Shows in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
